No India-Pakistan series in 2022-25 ICC Women's Championship; five new teams earn ODI status

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced the 2022-25 Women's Championship and also added Bangladesh and Ireland as the ninth and tenth teams for this cycle.

However, there is no India-Pakistan series slotted for this third Women's Championship cycle. The two sides will play all the other teams except each other.

The teams that finish in the top five and the hosts (to be decided) will qualify directly for the Women's ODI World Cup, which will be played in 2025. In the next three years, each of the ten teams are scheduled to play eight three-match ODI series each, four at home and four away.

The bottom four teams will then battle it out in the qualifier tournament along with the 11th and 12th-ranked ODI teams. The best two teams from this tournament will get to feature in the mega event.

Meg Lanning, who recently led Australia to their seventh 50-over World Cup title, said in a statement:

"As we saw at the most recent ODI World Cup, there are a number of nations really starting to emerge so we're going to have to be at the top of our game. We pride ourselves on finding ways to keep evolving and it'll be more important than ever over the next period."

She added:

"To have Bangladesh and Ireland involved, will not only be great for us to have the chance to play more cricket against them but also to expose them to more cricket against the top nations. We want to see the women's game as strong as possible and developing the next tier of nations is a big part of that."

ICC grants ODI status to five associate nations

The ICC has also granted ODI status to the Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, Scotland, Thailand and USA with immediate effect. ICC CEO Geoff Allardice said in this regard:

"Increasing the number of teams in the ICC Women's Championship and awarding ODI status to five additional teams will help us to accelerate the growth of the women's game."

He elaborated:

"More teams playing more regularly creates a more competitive environment as we saw at the recent Women's Cricket World Cup in New Zealand."

The 2022-25 Women's Championship cycle will kick off with Sri Lanka's tour of Pakistan, which starts on June 1.